Keeping Black Children Pushed Into, Not Pushed out of, Classrooms: Black Parents Connect With Teachers and Schools to Create "Race-Conscious" Family Engagement

• In Event: Blackness as an Act of Social Justice

Abstract

Using critical race theory as a theoretical framework and a community based participatory research design (McAlister, 2013), this paper examines the social processes and outcomes associated with implementing a race conscious (Carter, 2008) parent engagement strategy in an environment where teachers, administrators and other school personnel hold normative ideas of “colorblindness” while silencing any discussion around race (Castagno, 2008). The findings show: 1) Creation of mutual respect 2) a decrease in student disciplinary referrals of black students due to the influence of the Black parents in the classroom. 2) The recognition by teachers of the racial challenges faced by families of color in school and in the community.

Authors

• Denise Gray Yull, State University of New York

• Marguerite A. Wilson, Binghamton University - SUNY